SCRAP THE JUDICIAL

Out of all the specific recommendations in the annual report of the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor, stands one clause that, backed as it presumably is by the Federation, commits that body to a definite policy more than any other program it has previously formulated. The clause recommends "that the Federation indorse a joint resolution, to be presented in Congress proposing an amendment to the Constitution under which all measures finally enacted by Congress would be valid under the Constitution whenever called into question." To all intents and purposes, the suggestion might have read "that the Federation indorse a joint resolution in Congress proposing the abolition of the Judicial branch of the government."

The feeling of antagonism against the courts, and in particular against the Supreme Court, has long been brewing in the minds of Labor men, and it found very definite expression at the time of the Supreme Court's decision in favor of the U. S. Steel Corporation last spring. The result of the long fermentation is the "specific recommendation" quoted above.

In the desire to pass an amendment, the Federation both shows that its real purpose is to amend the Constitution to the extent of altering our form of government, and also fits in with the spirit of the time, which counsels that all measures which may be disputed in the future should be inserted into the almost impregnable Constitution. It might seem that by attempting the difficult task of passing an amendment the Federation is blocking its chance of accomplishing its purpose; but nothing is more sure of success than a highly organized, determined minority, and this the Federation most assuredly is.

The passing of such an amendment cannot be considered an absolute impossibility, but it is safe to say that if the Federation succeeds in this purpose it will be gambling -- and in a game in which the dice are loaded in their favor only for the first throw. For without the steadying influence of the conservative courts, Labor, no less than Capital, may be at the mercy of hysterical legislatures.

It is a pleasing delusion among the supporters of this recommendation that as soon as the more conservative elements of the government are removed, there will remain no force hostile to them. It is not impossible that, when the judicial has been extracted, the Federation will find in a "purer" democracy an uncertainty more dangerous to their interests than any opposition they have hitherto had to overcome. The Federation's recent recommendation somewhat resembles a challenge to the fates.